Van Gogh’s Enduring Legacy

And the Remarkable Woman Who Changed the History of Art

by William J. Havlicek & David A. Glen

Following the success of the highly acclaimed book Van Gogh’s Untold Journey, authors William J. Havlicek and David A. Glen now enhance and enrich Vincent’s story embracing the one person hitherto—and to a large extent—ignored: Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, his sister-in-law. For without Johanna, little of the inimitable Vincent would ever have been known. This important work, which delves deeply into the hundreds of letters between Vincent and his brother Theo, and those between Theo and Johanna, provides new insight into the artist’s true character nurtured from his abiding faith, the influence of family, and the tender solicitude he felt for mankind.

Van Gogh’s Enduring Legacy furthermore brings to light the prestigious patronage of Helene Kröller-Müller, the wife of a wealthy industrialist, who was to accumulate the second-largest collection of Van Gogh drawings and paintings, now displayed in the renowned Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, the Netherlands. The Kröller-Müller collection is, in itself, a remarkable testiment to Johanna’s astute advocacy of Vincent’s art and writings long after his death. And Theo, Vincent’s devoted brother, now receives suitable recognition for the part he played in ensuring Van Gogh’s enduring legacy.

Johanna van Gogh-Bonger

Helene Kröller-Müller

After the deaths of Vincent and Theo, Johanna became keeper and advocate of Vincent’s immense collection of paintings, sketches, and illustrations. She was to preserve and chronicle over 520 hand-written letters (eventually more than 900 would come to light) without which we would never have come to understand the devoted relationship and interdependency Vincent had with his brother Theo, nor the remarkable beneficence that lay at the very core of the Van Gogh family as a whole. Most importantly, we would never have come to know the uncommon genius that was Vincent van Gogh.

Johanna with Vincent’s mother, Anna Carbentus, and Johanna’s son,nephew of the famous artist, and also named Vincent Willem Van Gogh.

The letters, publicly exhibited for the first time at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 2009, were also to prove crucial in dispelling many of the apocryphal stories that were later to surround Vincent’s life—stories that crassly portrayed him as some madman whose art betrayed a fractured and frenzied soul rather than the highly intelligent man he in fact was.

Johanna had realized that Vincent’s letters to Theo were crucial to our understanding of Van Gogh yet she did not want their powerful message to eclipse his art, withholding them from public scrutiny for nearly twenty-four years until his reputation as an artist was safely established. Johanna’s astute care and dedication to preserving the very essence of Van Gogh were manifested in a way of which he would have approved: through action.

Havlicek and Glen have carefully researched new letters and documents that accurately portray Johanna as a woman whose indomitable and tenacious spirit met with great antipathy in a time when women were not welcome in the world of art dealing. Yet her steadfast determination and stamina were to attract the attention of major art dealers and collectors. And by her death in 1925, Johanna had secured for posterity Vincent van Gogh’s reputation as an artistic genius. Moreover, his letters were to finally lay to rest all doubts about the workings of his mind, and were to reveal an astonishing literary ability that had previously gone unnoticed.

Johanna as depicted by her second husband, the artist Johan Cohen Gosschalk

This fascinating story also depicts in rich detail the various characters with whom Johanna was involved. Not the least of these was of course her husband Theo. The two, despite their brief time together, were very much in love. And Vincent’s constant presence in their lives—and his financial dependency on Theo—might have nettled a lesser person. Yet Johanna had a fondness for Vincent that is evident in her own letters and diary, as did he for her. His genius, in her eyes, was never to diminish. Other personalities are presented including the renowned art dealers Cassirer and Bremmer who were to orchestrate the sale of a large number of Van Gogh paintings and drawings to the collector Helene Kröller-Müller. These now comprise the second-largest collection of Van Gogh paintings in existence at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, The Netherlands. And the story of Helene Kröller-Müller’s patronage of Vincent’s art is an important new feature of Havlicek and Glen’s story.

Vincent Willem van Gogh, Johanna’s son and nephew of the celebrated artist.

Johanna was not only left with the task of promoting the inimitable Vincent and his work; she was also left with a baby boy, also named Vincent Willem van Gogh, later known as “The Engineer”. It was he who was to forge the foundation that today administers, together with the Dutch state, the considerable legacy of paintings, drawings, and letters that comprise the Van Gogh Collection in the museum in Amsterdam.

But in those early days, life for Johanna wasn’t easy and, notwithstanding her dedication to preserving and promoting Vincent’s work, she first and foremost wanted to ensure the health and welfare of her son. This caused her to move from the hustle, bustle, and pollution of Paris to the town of Bussum, not far from Amsterdam. It was there that she became acquainted with a literary group known as the tachtigers who were to be instrumental, through their advice and connections, in helping Johanna promote Vincent’s work.

We have been privileged throughout history with accounts of the lives of many extraordinary and accomplished women; and Johanna’s provides us with yet another. Her story, that of the caring and steadfast Theo, and the remarkable patronage of Helene Kroller-Muller, have long deserved illumination as they are inextricably tied to Vincent van Gogh as of one of history’s artistic icons.

This beautifully illustrated and well-researched literary tour de force is now the most comprehensive and definitive story of Vincent’s life, and the remarkable woman who changed the history of art..

PRE-ORDER THIS BOOK

The limited-issue, first edition of this book is currently in prepress.
Only the first 500 copies of this beautifully produced book are available
signed and hand-numbered by the authors. To receive your signed and
numbered copy, please preorder today.

Limited-Issue
First Edition in Print Signed by the Authors

The limited-issue, first edition of this book
is currently in prepress and will be available soon.
Only the first 500 copies of this beautifully produced
book are available signed and hand-numbered by the
authors. To receive your signed and numbered
copy, please preorder today. Our net proceeds
go to our foundation for homeless and
otherwise endangered children.

Your information is secure and encrypted.

We supply award-winning ColomPac®
high-quality specialized packaging products
in North America and elsewhere. Good packaging
is about functionality. For decades, ColomPac® has
been working to make packaging as easy and perfect
as possible for all kinds of things, whether large or small,
simple or valuable, important or not so important.
ColomPac® focuses on the details: self-sealing,
tear-open strip, reinforced impact-resistant
edges, packing speed, and optimized weights
and postal charges … well-made products
that you can rely on for sending “real”
things safely from here to there.

Important:It is our intention to abide strictly with the EU General Data Protection Regulation as amended in 2018, and our Privacy Policy herein tries to adhere to its tenets, despite its complexities and nuance. However, it is important that you as our website visitor first read the new and revised regulation before using our website/s and understand all your rights with regard to your privacy and our sharing of data. The main site for this can be found here >>